The M+G+R Foundation commissioned Lee Penn, author of False Dawn(2), to prepare this document. Miguel de Portugal
vouches for the contents of this document; a document which brings into sharp
focus one of the central messages that Miguel must convey to all - believers
and non-believers alike: Accept no man-made substitutes for the true
Christ.

The problem and the associated
illusions

1. Popes - supported by
the Councils of the Roman Catholic Church - have claimed to teach infallibly
on matters of faith and morals. This claim was written into Roman Catholic
dogma in 1870, with the decree Pastor Aeternus by the First Vatican
Council.

The text of the Vatican I decree on papal
infallibility makes it clear that the scope of this authority is
limited; it applies to a Papal definition of doctrine on faith and morals,
intended to be binding on all:

"We teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma
that when the Roman Pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, that is, when, in the exercise
of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his
supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals
to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the divine assistance
promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer
willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals.
Therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by
the consent of the Church, irreformable." (3)

This dogma was not defined by the Hierarchy until
1870 - which means either:

(a) that the Holy Spirit offered
infallibility to the Church only after 1870 - about 1,840 years after
Pentecost, when the Church began,

or

(b) that this decree was retroactive,
covering all binding Papal teachings on "faith and morals" since the Church
was founded. This poses obvious problems, as I discuss below.

In any case, there's Scriptural evidence that
Peter, who Roman Catholics consider to be the first of the Popes, erred at
least once after Pentecost in teaching "faith and morals," and required
correction from St. Paul. As Paul said:

"But when Cephas came to Antioch I opposed him to
his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James,
he ate with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated
himself, fearing the circumcision party. And with him the rest of the Jews
acted insincerely, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their
insincerity. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth
of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, 'If you, though a Jew, live
like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live
like Jews?'" (Gal. 2:11-14)

Additionally, as a Catholic historian notes, "the popes of the first four
centuries wielded relatively limited authority beyond Rome and its immediate
environs. ... Not until the pontificate of Leo the Great (440-461) was the
claim of universal papal jurisdiction (that is, over the whole Church, East as
well as West) first articulated and an attempt made to exercise it in any
really decisive manner." (4) Another historian of the
Papacy adds, "No controversy in the first thousand years of Christianity had
been settled merely by Papal fiat." (5)

2. The Vatican has given the
doctrine of infallibility a very wide interpretation, so as to cover almost
any Papal teachings with the mantle of infallibility. Pope John Paul II said
in 1993:

"Alongside this infallibility of ex cathedra
definitions, there is the charism of the Holy Spirit's assistance, granted to
Peter and his successors so that they would not err in matters of faith and
morals, but rather shed great light on the Christian people. This charism is
not limited to exceptional cases, but embraces in varying degrees the whole
exercise of the Magisterium. ... We will close by noting that the exercise of
the Magisterium is a concrete expression of the Roman Pontiff's contribution
to the development of the Church's teaching." (6)

Therefore, as article 2037 of the 1994
Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

"The law of God entrusted to the Church is taught
to the faithful as the way of life and truth. ... They have the duty of
observing the constitutions and decrees conveyed by the legitimate authority
of the Church. Even if they concern disciplinary matters, these determinations
call for docility in charity." (7)

In other words, the Vatican says the faithful are
to obey all teachings issued by the Catholic Church, in matters of
discipline as well as in faith and morals. A recent participant in a Catholic
discussion group understands what the Vatican wants, and urges us all to
trust and obey:

"When doubts cloud our minds and things seem grey,
we should exhibit humble, childlike trust in the Church and in the Pope. The
Church is our sweet mother on earth and the Pope is our spiritual father.
Sometimes to children their parents seem arbitrary and contradictory, but it
is only because they are lacking in the maturity to grasp things that are
beyond them." (8)

The Vatican now extends its claim of infallibility
even to the canonization of saints. A 1997 decree by Ratzinger's Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) says that "truths connected to revelation
by historical necessity and which are to be held definitively" by Catholics
include "the canonizations of saints (dogmatic facts)."
(9)

The CDF says that Catholics must assent, "based on
faith in the Holy Spirit's assistance to the Magisterium and on the Catholic
doctrine of the infallibility of the Magisterium."
(10) A pre-Vatican II theological manual explains
that "if the Church could err in her opinion" that "a member of the Church has
been assumed into eternal bliss and may be the object of general veneration,"
"consequences would arise which would be incompatible with the sanctity of the
Church." (11) So, the Vatican now says that whoever
"denies these truths" - including the accuracy of canonizations - "would be in
a position of rejecting a truth of Catholic doctrine and would therefore no
longer be in full communion with the Catholic Church."
(12)

If this ruling means what it says, those who deny that the founder of Opus Dei
is a saint are out of communion with Rome. Meanwhile, there's the
counter-example of Joan of Arc, who was burned as a heretic in 1431, found
innocent in a Church re-trial in 1456, and canonized in 1920.
(13)

3. In conjunction with this new
doctrine on Papal authority, the trend since Pius IX has been to promote the
Pope as a living icon and a media star, and to make him the center of
Catholicism.

A historian of the Papacy says that in the
mid-1800s, "in the age of cheap popular print and the emergence of the mass
media, the Pope himself became, quite literally, a popular icon. Catholic
households from Africa to the Americas were as likely to display a picture of
the Pope as a crucifix or a statue of the Virgin, and the face of Pio Nono
[Pius IX] was better known than that of any Pope in history."
(14) In 1876, Cardinal Henry Manning of England said
that the Pope, "stripped of his 'temporal glory,' was the living icon of the
Sacred Heart." (15) A popular hymn of the time ran
thus:

"Full in the panting Heart of Rome

Beneath the Apostle's crowning dome.

From pilgrim lips that kiss the ground,

Breathes in all tongues one only sound:

'God bless our Pope, the great the good!'" (16)

Such veneration apparently went to the Pope's
head. When Cardinal Guidi spoke at Vatican I in favor of limiting the scope of
Papal infallibility (saying that its use must be assisted by "the counsel of
the bishops manifesting the tradition of the churches"), Pius IX reprimanded
the Cardinal, saying "I am the tradition."
(17)

There's more ...

The Greek-Catholic Patriarch Youssef had opposed
the infallibility decree, and left Rome before the dogma was voted upon.
Later, Pius IX "forced the Patriarch to kneel in front of him, then placed his
foot on the Patriarch's neck," (18) and said,
"testa dura" (19) (in essence, calling him a
stubborn mule). (20)

Pius IX, incidentally, was declared "Blessed" by
John Paul II in 2000, putting him on the road to canonization.

As Pius IX did, Leo XIII (1878-1903) continued.
The historian Eamon Duffy said that Leo "surrounded himself with the trappings
of monarchy, insisted that Catholics received in audiences kneel before him
throughout the interview, never allowed his entourage to sit in his presence,
never in twenty-five years exchanged a single word with his coachman."
(21)

John XXIII and Paul VI divested the Papacy of some
of the courtly pomp and regal trappings that it had inherited - but since the
election of John Paul II, there has been a renewed emphasis on the idolatrous
mystique of the Papacy. The Pope is no longer lifted up and carried about on a
sedan chair by his footmen; he is lifted up before the whole world by his
publicists, with the cooperation of image-hungry media.

* Recent news stories in Catholic and secular publications say that Benedict XVI
is more popular than John Paul II, as measured by attendance at Papal
audiences and other Vatican events.

* George Weigel, a pro-war neoconservative and Catholic apologist, recently
issued God's Choice : Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic
Church. The title implies that the current Pope was the best choice, one
made by God (acting through the Conclave).

* Two writers for a Catholic Worker newspaper gave this headline to their story
about the death of John Paul II: "Our Dear Sweet Christ on Earth, John Paul
II, Has Died." (22) (St. Catherine of Siena had used
this phrase to describe the Pope in the 1300s.)

The Papal press secretary since 1984 - under John Paul II and Benedict XVI - has
been Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls. He has stage-managed the recent Popes' public
image, and has the background to do it: he is an Opus Dei numerary, a former
actor and psychiatrist, and author of a book titled Manipulation in
Advertising. (23)

4. With the media-star status of
current Popes goes encouragement of adulation of the Pope, and uncritical
support for his teachings and actions.

Catholic apologist Patrick Madrid says: "We call
the Pope 'The Holy Father' because he extends heaven's paternal presence."
(24) He adds, "The Lord kept His promise to be with
the Church always, and this promise has been kept, par excellence, in the
office of the Papacy." (25) Madrid describes St.
Peter's Basilica and the Vatican as "the universal focal point of the
Christian religion" (26) - even though the Basilica
was funded, in part, by the sale of indulgences. (It was these sales, directed
by Julius II and Leo X, that sparked Luther's protest in 1517). In the
conclusion of his book-length defense of the Papacy against its critics,
Madrid says that Peter "was the first in a two-thousand-year line of bishops
of Rome who stand at the center of the Christian Church. In a sense you can
say the popes are its center." (27) (Do you
see the bait-and-switch being done: the substitution of a human ruler for God
as the head and center of the Church?)

What Madrid says, many have echoed - including the
current Pope. On the day after his election, Benedict XVI told the Cardinals
that during "the death and the funeral of the lamented John Paul II ... the
entire world looked to him with trust. To many it seemed as if that intense
participation, amplified to the confines of the planet by the social
communications media, was like a choral request for help addressed to the pope
by modern humanity which, wracked by fear and uncertainty, questions itself
about the future." (28)

Ratzinger seemed to put himself forward as the one
to answer that "request for help," by reason of his election by God to the
Papacy:

"If the weight of the responsibility that now lies
on my poor shoulders is enormous, the divine power on which I can count is
surely immeasurable: 'You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.'
Electing me as the Bishop of Rome, the Lord wanted me as his Vicar, he wished
me to be the 'rock' upon which everyone may rest with confidence."
(29)

These, indeed, are new teachings! Who knew that
"everyone may rest with confidence" in the God-appointed Bishop of Rome, or
that the mass interest in the funeral of John Paul II constituted a "choral
request for help addressed to the pope by modern humanity"?

Strong leaders need willing followers. In response
to the ongoing decay of Roman Catholic institutions, various Catholic
commentators have proposed strict obedience to the hierarchy as the
solution. Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver spoke for
them when - as an antidote to the "prophetic" antics of liberal dissenters in
religious orders - he proposed that we follow one of the "Rules for Thinking
with the Church" (30) offered during the Reformation
by St. Ignatius of Loyola. The "Thirteenth Rule," cited by the Archbishop,
is:

"If we wish to proceed securely in all things, we must hold fast to the
following principle: What seems to me white, I will believe black if the
hierarchical Church so defines. For I must be convinced that in Christ our
Lord, the Bridegroom, and in His spouse, the Church, only one Spirit holds
sway, which governs and rules for the salvation of souls. For it is by the
same Spirit and Lord who gave the Ten Commandments that our holy mother Church
is ruled and governed." (31)

With the call to strict
obedience comes the habit of secrecy, as may be required to protect the
assets and reputation of the institution. In October 2003, when John Paul II
named 30 men as cardinals, the oath they all swore included this vow: "not to
reveal to any one what is confided to me in secret, nor to divulge what may
bring harm or dishonor to Holy Church." (33)
This reads like a charter for covering up priestly abuse and hierarchical
malfeasance.

Such policies and propaganda encourage people to
focus on, and follow, the Pope - without considering whether Papal teachings
and policies are consistent with the teachings of Christ.

This view of authority and obedience is straight
out of George Orwell's novel 1984. As the Inner Party inquisitor told
Winston, the imprisoned dissident, "Whatever the Party holds to be truth
is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the
eyes of the Party." (32) Acceptance of this
irrational mind-set prepares the faithful to goose-step off a spiritual
cliff.

EPILOGUE by miguel de Portugal

Once the Pontificate of H.H. John Paul II ended all that we have discussed in
this document only has historical value. John Paul II was the last
legitimate Successor to Peter. (34)

NOTES

(1) Which means : "Who dares to try to pass himself as God"(2)False
Dawn - The United Religions Initiative, Globalism, and the Quest for a
One-World Religion(3) Vatican I, First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ,
ch. 4, para. 9, July 18, 1870,
http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/V1.HTM#6,
accessed 01/06/06.(4) Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes, Harper San
Francisco, 2000, p. 395.(5) Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners, Yale University Press,
2001, p. 299.(6) John Paul II, General Audience, March 24, 1993, "The Holy Spirit
Assists the Roman Pontiff,"
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/alpha/data/aud19930324en..html,
accessed 01/06/06.(7)Catechism of the Catholic Church, article 2037,
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P74.HTM,
accessed 01/06/06.(8)http://www.bettnet.com/blog/index.php/weblog/comments/a_clarification_on_papal_infallibility/,
accessed 01/11/06.(9) Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Doctrinal Commentary
on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei," June 29, 1998,
section 11,
http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM,
printed 09/19/05.(10) Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Doctrinal Commentary
on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei," June 29, 1998,
section 8,
http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU.HTM,
printed 09/19/05.(11) Dr. Ludwig Ott, "The Infallibility of the Church,"
Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1960,
p. 299.(12) Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Doctrinal Commentary
on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fidei," June 29, 1998,
section 6,
http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFADTU..HTM,
printed 09/19/05.(13) St. Joan was tried by a Church court, recanted her "heresy," and
was sentenced to life in prison. She later "relapsed," and was tried and
condemned as a relapsed heretic by a secular court. Without the prior Church
sentence, the secular court could not have executed her for her "relapse."(14) Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners, Yale University Press,
2001, p. 293.(15) Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners, Yale University Press,
2001, p. 293.(16) Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners, Yale University Press,
2001, p. 294. This hymn was written in the mid-1800s by Cardinal Wiseman, of
England.(17) Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners, Yale University Press,
2001, p. 299.(18) Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center, "History of the
Melkite Greek Catholic Church," part 8, 24 August 2003,
http://www.mliles.com/melkite/historyfrjamesbulletin.shtml,
accessed 01/24/06.(19) Archbishop Elias Zoghby, We Are All Schismatics,
Educational Services (Greek-Catholic Diocese of Newton), 1996, p. 31.(20) Jerry Ryan, "Back to the Future: Christian Unity and the Papacy,"
Commonweal, Jan. 15. 1999,
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_1_126/ai_53889747,
accessed 01/24/06.(21) Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners, Yale University Press,
2001, p. 318.(22) Mark and Louise Zwick, "Our Dear Sweet Christ on Earth, John Paul
II, Has Died," Houston Catholic Worker, Vol. XXV, No. 4, Special
Edition 2005,
http://www.cjd.org/paper/jpII.html,
accessed 01/12/06.(23) Stefania Rossini, "The Pope's Spokesman, in his own words,"
Catholic World Report, August/September 2005, p. 44; see also
Navarro-Valls' resume on his web site,
http://www.navarro-valls.info/biography.html,
printed 09/15/05.(24) Patrick Madrid, Pope Fiction, Basilica Press, 1999, p.
13.(25) Patrick Madrid, Pope Fiction, Basilica Press, 1999, p.
19.(26) Patrick Madrid, Pope Fiction, Basilica Press, 1999, p.
24.(27) Patrick Madrid, Pope Fiction, Basilica Press, 1999, p.
307.(28) Benedict XVI, "You Are Peter," first address given to the College
of Cardinals, April 20, 2005, as reprinted in Inside the Vatican, May
2005, p. 29.(29) Benedict XVI, "You Are Peter," first address given to the College
of Cardinals, April 20, 2005, as reprinted in Inside the Vatican, May
2005, p. 27.(30) Ignatius Loyola, "Rules for Thinking with the Church," in
"Readings from the Protestant and Counter Reformations,"
http://www.thecaveonline.com/APEH/reformdocument.html,
printed 05/08/04; this version lists the first 13 of Ignatius' rules.(31) Archbishop Charles Chaput, "Consecrated life meant to be leaven
in the Church," April 24, 2002, Archdiocese of Denver,
http://www.archden.org/archbishop/docs/4_24_02_consecrated_life.htm,
printed 05/08/04. This rule is part of the Spiritual Exercises of St.
Ignatius of Loyola; the full set of eighteen rules may be found on-line at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/loyola-spirex.html,
as of 05/19/04.(32) George Orwell, 1984, New American Library edition, 1961,
p. 205.(33) ZENIT.org, "Cardinals' Oath on Receiving Biretta," October 21,
2003,
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=43207,
printed 09/19/05. This oath was "translated from the Latin original by ZENIT,"
a news agency associated with the Legionaries of Christ.(34)Who is Benedicto XVI?

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